This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The major goal is to identify and characterize cytomegaloviral immunomodulatory functions in vitro and to define their role for immune evasion in vivo. The goals of this application are a) to examine whether MHC I interference mechanisms are important for evading CD8+ T cell control in vivo using the rhesus CMV model in rhesus macaques, b) to examine the importance of MHC-I inhibitory genes related to human CMV or RhCMV-specific in vivo and c) to characterize the molecular mechanism of VIHCE, a RhCMV-specific MHC-I inhibitory genes. These aims have been accomplished and the results have been published.